Closure latches



July 11, 1961 c. J. GRISWOLD, JR., ET AL 2,992,032

CLOSURE LATCHES Filed June 24, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 a; z E F 6 W M ATTORNEY July 11, 1961 c GRISWOLD, ET AL 2,992,032

CLOSURE LATCHEIS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 24, 1959 INVENTOR. I .mzesifir/rwzddii BY dimes 0612502 W ATTORNEY July 11, 1961 c. J. GRISWOLD, JR., ET AL 2,

CLOSURE LATCHES Filed June 24, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VEN TOR.

ATTORNEV United States Patent C i 2,992,032 CLOSURE LATCHES Charles J. Griswold, Jr., Oak Park, and James D. Leslie,

Birmingham, Mich., assignors to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed June 24, 1959, Ser. No. 822,646 9 Claims. (Cl. 292-48) This invention relates to closure latches and more particularly to vehicle closure latches for pairs of swinging vehicle closures.

The closure latch of this invention is intended primarily for use with station wagon lift gate and tail gate arrangements wherein the lift gate is swingably mounted on the body for upward swinging movement to an open position and the tail gate is swingably mounted on the body for downward swinging movement to open position. In an arrangement such as this it is often common to have the lift gate overlap the tail gate in the closed position of each so that only the lift gate may be opened, if desired, for ventilation purposes or otherwise.

In order to allow the operator to unlatch the lift gate from the body without unlatching the tail gate, this invention provides an improved closure latch which generally includes a center latch mounted on the tail gate and operative to latch the lift gate to the tail gate and a pair of side latches mounted on the tail gate and operative to latch the tail gate to the body. The common operating means provided for the latches is arranged to permit selective sequential operation of the center latch and side latches. Thus the center latch is first released upon operation of the operating means and thereafter, if desired, the side latches may be released.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved closure latch for pairs of swinging vehicle closure. Another object of this invention is to provide an improved closure latch for oppositely swinging station wagon lift gates and tail gates which is operative to latch the lift gate to the tail gate and latch the tail gate to the body. A further object of this invention is to provide an improved closure latch for pairs of swinging vehicle closures which is operative to latch one of the closures to the other and latch the other to the body, and to permit selective release of the one closure from the other closure independently of release of the other closure from the body. Yet another object of this invention is to provide an improved closure latch for station wagon lift gates and tail gates which includes a center latch operative to latch and unlatch the lift gate from the tail gate and a pair of side latches operative to latch and unlatch the tail gate from the body, with a common operating means being provided which permits selective sequential operation of the center latch independently of operation of the side latches to thereby allow the lift gate to be unlatched and moved to an open position independently of any movement of the tail gate to an open position.

These and other objects of this invention will be readily apparent from the following specification and drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a partial rear elevational view of a station wagon body having a lift gate and a tail gate to close the rear opening thereof and embodying a closure latch according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view, partially broken away, taken generally along the plane indicated by 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 3-3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an exploded perspective view of the center latch in latched position; and

' FIGURE 5 is a partial perspective view of a portion of the center latch when in unlatched POSiti n,

2,992,032 Patented July 11, 1961 ICC Referring now particularly to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a station Wagon body '10 includes a lift gate 12 and a tail gate 14 which open and close the rear opening 16 of the body. Although not shown in the drawings, it will be understood that the lift gate 12 is swingably mounted on the body by suitable hinges at the upper edge portion 18 thereof for upward swinging movement between a closed position, as shown, and an open position, not shown, and that the tail gate 1-4 is also swingably mounted on the body by suitable hinges at the lower edge portion 19 thereof for downward swinging movement from a closed position, as shown, to an open position, not shown. The closure latch of this invention generally includes a center latch 28 which is operative to latch the lift gate 12 to the tail gate 14 and further includes a pair of like side latches 22 which are operative to latch the tail gate 14 to the body. The closure latch includes operating means, as will be hereinafter described, to release the center latch 20 independently of release of the side latches 22 to thereby allow the lift gate 12 to be moved between open and closed positions independently of any movement of the tail gate 14 between open and closed positions.

Referring now particularly to FIGURES 2 through 5 of the drawings, the closure latch will be described. As best shown in FIGURES 2 and 3 of the drawings, the tail gate 14 generally includes an outer panel 24 and an inner panel 26, with panel 26 including integral upper and side flanges 28 and 29, respectively, which extend ontwardly of the body and terminate in flanged edges 30 which are secured to the outer panel 24 by bending a flanged edge 32 thereover. Flange 28 provides the upper wall of the tail gate and has an opening 34 therein. A generally U-shaped latch mounting bracket 36 is received within this opening and provided with opposite lateral flanges 38 bolted at 39 to panel 28 to either side of opening 34. A pin 40 is staked to the opposite side walls of bracket 36 and rotatably mounts the fork type latch bolt 42 of the center latch. Another pin 44 is also staked to the opposite side Walls of bracket 36 and rotatably mounts a detent lever 46. A coil torsion spring 48 is rotatably mounted on the pin 48, with one end 49 of the spring being hooked over one of the legs 50 of the latch bolt to bias the bolt toward unlatched position. The other end 51 of the spring engages an ofiset flange 52 of the detent lever to bias the detent lever to detented position. The bolt 42 is provided with a shoulder 56 which is engaged by a foot 58 of the detent lever when the bolt is in latched position and the detent lever is in detented position, as shown, to hold the bolt in this position against the action of the spring 48. When the bolt is in latched position, it slidably receives a striker bar 60 between the legs thereof. Bar 60 is integral with a striker plate 62 which is bolted at 63 to a threaded plate 64 adjustably mounted within a cage 66 secured to the lower wall 67 of the lower frame member 68 of the lift gate.

The operating means for the center latch 20 and side latches 22 will now be described. An angle mounting bracket 70 is secured to the inner panel 26 immediately below an access opening 72 therein. The offset cars 74 of a channel shaped support bracket 76 are bolted at 77 to the bracket 70 in order to mount the support bracket on the tail gate. As best shown in FIGURE 4 of the drawings, a bent ear 78 extends upwardly from one of the lateral flanges 80 of bracket 76 and a pin 82 is staked to the bent end of the ear and the flange of the bracket. An actuating lever 84 includes a pair of apertured lateral flanges 86 which are rotatably mounted on the pin 82 in order to mount the lever on the bracket 76 for inward and outward swinging movement with respect to the tail gate. The lever 84 is provided with a Winged slot 88 which provides a selective operating and nonperat a saaaectiog between the l ver and the complementary-shaped end of the pushrod 90 of a lock cylinder assembly 92. The lock cylinder assembly 92 includes a manually operable pushbutton 94 which operates the pushrod 90. The details of the lock cylinder assembly are not shown since this assembly is substantially the same as that shown in Psik Patent 2,724,958, assigned to the assignees of this invention. However it will be understood that the lock cylinder assembly may be placed in either locker or unlocked position by use of a suitable key adapted to be inserted in the pushbutton assembly 94. When the lock cylinder assembly is in unlocked position, the wing-shaped end of pushrod 90 is located transversely of the complementary-shaped slot 88 in the lever 84 whereby operation of the pushbutton assembly will swing the lever 84 counterclockwise as viewed in FIGURES 3 and 4 about the pin 82. Similarly, when the lock cylinder assembly is in locked position, the end of pushrod 90 is located in alignment with slot 88 of lever 84 whereby operation of the pushbutton assembly 94 will not actuate lever 84. In order to mount the lock cylinder assembly 92 on the tail gate, bracket 76 is provided with a generally channel-shaped extension 96 which receives and is secured to the barrel of the lock cylinder assembly. A spring 98 hooked between a leg 99 of the lower of the flanges 86 of lever 84 and one of the offset ears 74 of bracket 76 continuously biases lever 84 into engagement with the inner end of the barrel of the lock cylinder assembly 92.

An intermittent lever 100 is pivoted by pin 102 to the lever 84 and a coil torsion spring 104 mounted on the pin 102 has one end 106 thereof hooked over the lever 180 and the other end 108 thereof hooked over the lever 84 in order to bias the lever 100 downwardly with respect to the lever 84 or counterclockwise as viewed in FIGURES 4 and 5. Lever 100 is provided with an extension 110 which is slidably received within a siot 112 provided in the upper of the flanges 86 of lever 84 in order to guide swinging movement of the lever 100 relative to lever 84. Lever 100 is further provided with a lateral flange 114 which fixedly mounts a headed pin 116. The pin 116 is slidably received within a slot 118 provided in the lower end of a link 120. The upper end of the link 120 is pivoted at 122 to a multiplier lever 124 which is pivoted at 126 to one of the side walls of the bracket 36. As best shown in FIGURES 2 and 4 of the drawing, lever 124 is provided with a lateral slotted flange 128 which receives an extension 130 of the detent 46 for the center latch bolt 42.

When the detent 46 is in detented position as shown in FIGURES 2 and 4, the extension 130 thereof limits counterclockwise swinging movement of the lever 124 to thereby hold the link 120 in its upper position as shown in these figures and in turn hold the intermittent lever 100 in its upper position against the action of spring 104 by engagement of the lower end of the slot 118 of the link 120 with the pin 116. It will further be noted that the lower leg 132 of detent 46 has a pair of lateral threaded ears 133 which adjustably mount a bolt 134. The shank of bolt 134 normally engages lever 168 when detent 46 is in detented position and further provides the operating connection between the pushbutton assembly 92 and the detent 46 to release the center latch as will be described.

Another intermittent lever 140 is pivoted at one end thereof on the pin 82 below the lower of the flanges 86 of the lever 84. Lever 140 includes a generally downwardly extending lateral flange 142 adjacent the pivoted end thereof and a downwardly extending offset flange 144 adjacent the free end thereof which normally engages flange 145 of extension 96 of bracket 76. A bellcrank lever 146 is pivoted by pin 148 to one of the flanges 80 of the support bracket 76 and a coil torsion spring 152 mounted on the pin 148 has: one end 154 thereof hooked over the lever 146 and the other end 156 thereof engaging within a slot 158 of bracket 76 to bias the bellcrank lever 146 counterclockwise as viewed in FIGURES 3 and 4. One leg of the lever 146 includes a pair of downwardly extending threaded ears 160 which adjustably mount a bolt 162. As shown, the shank of the bolt 162 normally engages the offset flange 144 of the intermittent lever 140 under the action of the spring 152 to hold flange 144 in engagement with flange 145. Another bell-crank lever 164 is rotatably mounted on the pin 82 below the intermittent lever 140. A spring 166 interconnects an apertured leg 168 of the lever and an apertured ear 170 on the support bracket 76 to bias bellcrank lever 164 clockwise as viewed in FIGURES 3 and 4. One end of the lever 164 includes a pair of downwardly extending apertured threaded ears 172 which adjustably mount a bolt 174. The shank of the bolt normally engages the flange 142 of the intermittent lever 140 under the action of the spring 166.

Each of the side latches 22 which latch the tail gate to the body is of the same construction and accordingly only one will be described with particular reference to FIGURE 3 of the drawings. A generally U-shaped bracket extends inwardly through an opening 182 in the flange 29, which provides the end Wall of the tail gate, and an opening 184 provided in a reinforcing member 186 for the flange. Housing 180 includes lateral flanges 188 which are suitably secured to the outer surface of flange 29. A shaft 190 is staked to the opposite walls of bracket 180 and rotatably mounts a fork type latch bolt 192. A coil torsion spring 194 is also mounted on the shaft 190, with one end 196 thereof being hooked over one of the legs 197 of the bolt and the other end 198 of the spring being hooked over one of the end walls of the housing to bias the bolt counterclockwise toward unlatched position. Another shaft 200 is staked between the opposite walls of the bracket 180 and a detent lever 202 is rotatably mounted on this shaft. A coil torsion spring 204 is also rotatably mounted on the shaft 200 with one end 206 of the spring engaging the detent lever and the other end 208 of the spring engaging the base of the bracket 180 to thereby bias the detent lever clockwise toward detented position wherein a shoulder 210 of the detent engages a shoulder 212 of the bolt to hold the bolt in latched position, as shown, against the action of the spring 194.

When the bolt 192 is in latched position it slidably engages a striker bar 214 which is integral with a striker member 216. The striker member is bolted at 218 to a threaded plate 220 which is suitably secured to the body side wall 222 which defines the lower side wall of the opening 16 of the body. A shiftable rod 226 extends between each of the detents 202 and the bellcranks 146 and 164. As shown, the rod 226 has an outer hooked end 228 which is adapted to engage an apertured flange 230 of the detent lever and an inner hooked end 232 which is received within an opening provided in the other leg of each of the bellcrank levers.

Assume now that the lift gate 12 and tail gate 14 are in a closed and latched position as shown in FIG- URE 1 and that the operator desires to open and lift gate 12 for ventilation purposes or otherwise. Referring now particularly to FIGURES 4 and 5 of the drawings, the operator will press the pushbutton 9'4 to thereby shift the pushrod 90 inwardly of the tail gate and swing the actuating lever 84 counterclockwise about the pin 82. The engagement of the shank of bolt 162 with the intermittent lever 100 will cause the detent 46 to swing counterclockwise about the pin 40* to undetented position against the action of the spring 48 to move the foot 58 of the detent lever out of engagement with the shoulder 56 of the latch bolt 42 and allow the spring 48 to move the bolt out of engagement with the striker bar 60 to the unlatched position thereof. When the bolt 42 is in unlatched position, the curved inner surface of the foot 58 slidably engages a curved surface 236 of the bolt as the bolt engages the wall 238 of bracket 36 to retain the detent lever 46 in undetented position against the action of the spring 48. This movement of the detent lever 46 to undetented position will cause the lever 124 to swing counterclockwise about pivot 126 to thereby allow the link 120 to be shifted downwardly by the spring 104 as the intermittent lever 100 swings downwardly from its position of FIGURE 4 to its position of FIGURE 5. When the intermittent lever is in its downward position as shown in FIGURE 5, it can be seen that the intermittent lever is located in the path of the offset flange 144 of the intermittent lever 140. This movement of the center latch bolt 42 to unlatched position will not release the side latches 22 since the lever 100 moves in a path above the lever 140 so that there is no operative connection between levers 100 and 140.

If the operator now desires to unlatch the tail gate 14 from the body, he will again push the pushbutton 94 to swing the actuating lever 84 counterclockwise about the pin 82. This movement of the actuating lever will cause the intermittent lever 100 to engage the flange 144 of the intermittent lever 140 to thereby swing the intermittent lever 140 in the same direction about the pin 82. This movement of lever 140 will swing the bellcrank 146 clockwise about the pin 148 by engagement of the shank of bolt 162 with flange 144 and will also swing the bellcrank lever 164 counterclockwise about the pin 82 by engagement of the shank of bolt 174 with the flange 142. When the bellcrank levers swing oppositely to each other, they will shift the rods 226 inwardly of the tail gate to thereby swing each of the detents 202 counterclockwise about the shafts 200- to undetented position to move the shoulders 210 of the detents out of engagement with the shoulders 212 of the bolts 192 and allow the springs 194 to move the bolts 192 to unlatched position. When the bolts 192 are in unlatched position, curved surfaces 240 of the detent levers 202 engage similarly curved surfaces 242 of each of the bolts.

When the detent levers 202 are in undetented position, the bent ends 228 of the rods 226 are spaced from the flanges 230 of the detents. Thus, if the tail gate is thereafter moved to a closed position, the slidab le engagement of the legs 197 of the bolts 192 with striker bars 214 will cam the bolts to latched position against the action of the springs 194 as surfaces 240 and 242 move relative to each other until the shoulders 2110 of the detent levers 202 again engage the shoulders 212 of bolts 192 to hold the bolts in latched position, with this movement being permitted without any movement of the bellcranks 146 and 164 due to the spacing between the bent ends 228 of the rods 226 and the flanges 230 of the detents. Similarly, if the lift gate 12 is thereafter moved to a closed position, the camrning engagement of the leg 50 of bolt 42 with the striker bar 60' will cam the bolt to latched position against the action of the spring 48 as surface 236 of the bolt moves relative to the curved inner surface of foot 5'8- until the foot 58 again engages the shoulder 56 of the bolt tohold the bolt in latched position. This movement of the bolt from unlatched to latched position will cause detent lever 46 to swing the lever 124 clockwise about the pivot 126 thereof to shift the link 120 upwardly and thereby shift the intermittent lever 100 upwardly against the action of the spring 104 to its position as shown in FIGURE 4 of the drawings.

Thus this invention provides a new and improved vehicle closure latch which is operative to latch a pair of swinging closures to each other and to a vehicle body and which embodies operating means permitting selective sequential operation of the center latch and each of the side latches thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination comprising, a pair of latch means, each being movable between latched and unlatched positions, first latch operating means operatively connected to one of said latch means for moving said one latch means between latched and unlatched positions, second latch operating means operatively connected to the other of said latch means for moving said other latch means between latched and unlatched positions, common actuating means for said first and second latch operating means, means operatively connecting said actuating means to said first latch operating means, means movable between operating and non-operating positions for selectively and alternately connecting and disconnecting said actuating means and said second latch operating means, andmeans interconnecting said movable means and said one latch means and controlled by the position of said one latch means for controlling the position of said movable means.

2. The combination comprising, a pair of latch means, each being movable between latched and unlatched positions, first latch operating means operatively connected to one of said latch means for moving said one latch means between latched and unlatched positions, second latch operating means operatively connected to the other of said latch means for moving said other latch means between latched and unlatched positions common actuating means for said first and second latch operating means, means operatively connecting said actuating means to said first operating means, means operative to selectively connect and disconnect said actuating means and said second latch operating means, and means interconnecting said selective connecting and disconnecting means and said one latch means and controlled by the position of said one latch means for controlling operation of said selective connecting means.

3. The combination comprising, a pair of latch means, each being movable between latched and unlatched positions, first latch operating means operatively connected to one of said latch means for moving said one latch means between latched and unlatched positions second latch operating means operatively connected to the other of said latch means for moving said other latch means between latched and unlatched positions, common actuating means for said first and second latch operating means, means operatively connecting said actuating means to said first latch operating means, means movable between operating and non-operating positions for selectively and alternately connecting and disconnecting said actuating means and said second operating means, said movable means being normally located in the non-operating position thereof, and means interconecting said movable means and said one latch means for moving said movable means to said operating position thereof upon movement of said one latch means from latched to unlatched positions.

4. The combination comprising, a pair of latch means, each being movable between latched and unlatched positions, first latch operating means operatively connected to one of said latch means for moving said one latch means between latched and unlatched positions, second latch operating means operatively connected to the other of said latch means for moving said other latch means between latched and unlatched positions, said first and second latch operating means each including a movable member movable in non intersecting paths, means mounted on one of said movable members for selective movement relative thereto into and out of the path of movement of the other of said movable members for selectively and alternately connecting and disconnecting said first and second latch operating means, and means controlling the movement of said selectively movable means.

5. The combination comprising, a pair of latch means, each being movable between latched and unlatched positions, first latch operating means operatively connected to one of said latch means for moving said one latch means between latched and unlatched positions, second latch operating means operatively connected to the other of said latch means for moving said other latch means between latched and unlatched positions, said first and '7 I? second latch operating means each including a movable member movable in non-intersecting paths, means mounted on one of said movable members for selective movement relative thereto into and out of the path of movement of the other of said movable members for selectively and alternately connecting and disconnecting said first and second latch operating means, and means responsive to the position of one of said latch means for controlling the movement of said selectively movable means.

6. The combination comprising, a pair of latch means, each being movable between latched and unlatched positions, first latch operating means operatively connected to one of said latch means for moving said one latch means between latched and unlatched positions, second latch operating means operatively connected to the other of said latch means for moving said other latch means between latched and unlatched positions, said first and second latch operating means each including a movable member movable in non-intersecting paths, means mounted on one of said movable members for selective movement relative thereto into and out of the path of movement of the other of said movable members for selectively and alternately connecting and disconnecting said first and second latch operating means, and means interconnecting said selectively movable means and one of said latch means and responsive to movement of said one latch means between the positions thereof for controlling the movement of said selectively movable means.

7. The combination comprising, a pair of latch means movable between latched and unlatched positions, each including a latch bolt and a detent lever movable to an undetented position to effect release of the latch bolt, first latch operating means operatively connected to the detent lever of one of said latch means for moving said one detent lever to undetented position, second latch operating means operatively connected to the detent lever of the other of said latch means for moving said other detent lever to undetented position, said first and second latch operating means each including a movable member movable in non-intersecting paths, means mounted on one of said movable members for selective movement relative thereto into and out of the path of movement of the other of said movable members for selectively and alternately connecting and disconnecting said first and second latch operating means, and means interconnecting said one detent lever and said selectively movable means for controlling the movement of said selectively movable means,

8. The combination comprising, a pair of latch means, each being movable between latched and unlatched positions, first latch operating means operatively connected to one of said latch means for moving said one latch means between latched and unlatched positions, second latch operating means operatively connected to the other of said latch means for moving said other latch means between latched and unlatched positions, said first and second latch operating means each including a pivoted lever movable in non-intersecting paths lying in parallel planes, an intermittent lever pivotally mounted on one of said levers for selective movement relative thereto in a transverse plane into and out of the path of movement of the other of said levers for selectively and alternately connecting and disconnecting said first and second latch operating means, and means controlling the movement of said intermittent lever.

9. The combination comprising, a pair of latch means, each being movable between latched and unlatched positions, first latch operating means operatively connected to one of said latch means for moving said one latch means between latched and unlatched positions, second latch operating means operatively connected to the other of said latch means for moving said other latch means between latched and unlatched positions, said first and second latch operating means each including a pivoted lever movable in non-intersecting paths lying in parallel planes, an intermittent lever pivotally mounted on one of said levers for selective movement relative thereto in a transverse plane into and out of the path of movement of the other of said levers for selectively and alternately connecting and disconnecting said first and second latch operating means, said intermittent lever normally disconnecting said pivoted levers, and means operatively connected to one of said latch means and responsive to movement of said one of said latch means for controlling the movement of said intermittent lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,218,183 Springer Oct. 15, 1940 2,263,065 Baldauf Nov. 18, 1941 2,839,912 Corbin et al. June 24, 1958 2,911,247 Corbin Nov. 3, 1959 

